Spoilers The X-Files: Season 11

"Confuse Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW ME?!"

A comedy episode! And it was great. And yet also very timely. What difference does it make if The Truth Is Out There if The Truth Doesn't Matter? Everybody lives in their own little echo chamber, growing more and more isolated, empowering the extremists who nibble at the fabric of society like rodents. I can sympathize with Mulder, watching everything I've worked for in my life made irrelevant by twerps whose only motivation is outdoing each other on social media.

But this episode was hilarious, and we might as well laugh. So many great moments, from Mulder squatching, to the lost TZ episode, to young Mulder on the couch, to Reggie being retconned into old adventures, to the final alien visitation, to Big Foot-shaped Jello-O. Talk about rewatchability.

And, of course, there was that X-Files twist: "Hey, where are they taking Reggie?" And they never did explain the death of the store owner.

 

Meh... I didn't really liked that one. I would prefer it if it was not a parody episode, the plot could have been very interesting.

Like the second episode of the season, I think they have much better ideas than last year, but the implementation is not the best.

 

The really surreal parody moments all took place in people's heads-- mostly Reggie-- so I don't feel like they broke format. And Mulder's conversation with the little trollish guy was pretty serious and profound.

 

Trump's own words tend to be the best weapon against him.

 

Covfefe

 

He has the best words! Just as Nerys Myk demonstrated.

 

I'm scared that there's an alien Trump. One of those is enough for any universe.

 

The alien design they used looked familiar.

 

I loved Mulder's reaction to "All the Answers", Duchovny is great when he gets to be silly.
I thought the Trump stuff was a bit on the nose, but it had to adressed. "The truth is out there." "Yeah, so? Does it matter?"

 

I know what you mean about the Trump stuff being on the nose, but he's such an absurd figure it's just unnecessary to exaggerate him. Maybe in years to come that depiction will just seem like parody, because hopefully future generations will just be baffled that someone who goes on the way he does actually got to be president. Like that dissonance you feel now watching Ronald Reagan in Bedtime for Bonzo

 

That's one problem with topical or pop-culture humor. It's great at the moment, but when some young person watches the episode 50 years from now, will they even understand what it meant? Watch some 1940s Bugs Bunny cartoons. My parents had to explain some of the references to me, even back in the 60s, and I still have no idea who some of the characters are parodying.

 

Sure, but that's true for many of the references of the show in a broader sense, including alien obsession, Roswell, Area 51, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, and everything else in cryptozoology.

And as much as I hate to say it, people are going to remember much about Donald Trump in 50 years. He's more Roosevelt than Hoover on a presidential scale.

 

So far this season:
- I hated the pilot (all of the "My Struggles" show Chris Carter has mostly lost his way in mythology episodes).
- "This" was good, though the low budget showed a fair amount. It had good character stuff for M & S.
- "Plus One" felt like a classic middle-of-the-road MOTW X-Files episode, with the classic resolution but no-proof ending.
- "Forehead Sweat" was awesome. I laughed so much. Darin Morgan continues to hit them out of the park.

I am looking forward to what else this season can present. I hope that even if Duchovny and Anderson don't return, they find a way to continue the show with quality (and no Einstein and Miller, please).

 

You guys really make me conflicted about my decision to give up on the show!

 

A good comedic episode. Forehead sweat worked well. Funny that I was talking about the Mandela effect with someone at work just a dew weeks ago..

 

Or so you think.

 

I get you, but it really depends. It's not worth worrying about the level of comprehension a viewer will have in 50 years time. It's really not important if somebody is even watching The X Files in 50 years time. But I do think that that if in 2068 somebody is watching a TV show from 1993 they are probably the type of person who would be well versed enough in pop culture that they'd have a pretty good understanding of what is being parodied, or at least understand the attitude that is being parodied.

 

I hope if Duchovny and Anderson don't come back, they take it as a chance to start over, and do a soft reboot and dump pretty much everything from their era. Just start a whole new arc, with a mostly new supporting cast. I could see keeper Skinner around as a connection to the Mulder/Skully era, and maybe an occasional MOTW sequel/followup, but that would be it.

 

Bring back Doggett!

 

Finally we're getting somewhere, I feel like I care about the series again.